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The Pursuit of Love

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The Pursuit of Love

By: Nancy Mitford
Narrated by: Bessie Carter
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

One of the funniest, sharpest novels about love and growing up ever written, Nancy Mitford's classic is now major a BBC and Prime Video series directed by Emily Mortimer and starring Lily James, Andrew Scott and Dominic West.

'He was the great love of her life you know.'

'Oh, dulling,' said my mother, sadly, 'One always thinks that. Every, every time.'

Oh, the tedium of waiting to grow up! Longing for love, obsessed with weddings and sex, Linda and her sisters and cousin Fanny are on the lookout for the perfect lover.

But finding Mr Right is much harder than any of the sisters had thought. Linda must suffer marriage first to a stuffy Tory MP and then to a handsome and humourless communist, before finding real love in war-torn Paris.

Nancy Mitford's wickedly funny series continues in Love in a Cold Climate and Don't Tell Alfred.

©1945 Nancy Mitford (P)2021 Penguin Audio Contemporary Contemporary Romance Literature & Fiction Romance Comedy Funny Witty Feel-Good War

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Critic reviews

"Utter, utter bliss." (Daily Mail)

"A pleasure as intense as inheriting a perfect pearl necklace, or finding a silk dress in a vintage shop that fits like a glove." (Caitlin Moran, Harper's Bazaar)

"Peerless." (Zoe Heller)
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I loved the narration and the story. Especially as I know this to be almost a true story. Perhaps a better time in England? It certainly sounded as if it was.

Just lovely

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Loved it - well performed and a facilitating look into the bright young things era. Saw parcelled with the stories of the Mitford sisters as written about by Jessica Mitford in Hons and Rebels.

Loved it

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Brilliant story brilliantly read. Highly recommend to all. I love Nancy Mitford and so cleverly and thoughtfully narrated

Excellent narration

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Jessica Mitford, one of Nancy's younger sisters, wrote a fragment of autobiography, Hons and Rebels which is a fascinating picture of pre World War II England. Nancy, the eldest of the Mitford sisters, grew up the the same family and in the same house as Jessica, and mined the same material for this fictional reworking of these eccentric characters and momentous events. Nancy's book is funnier, sadder, cleverer - a total delight. Read, or listen, to them both but not at the same time and see what you think of them both.

Funny, poignant, wise: a treasure of a book.

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I love this book and reread it with just as much pleasure and mirth every few years. Unfortunately the reader of this audible version completely fails to connect with the characters; her narration is adequate, but her dialogue is so misjudged that she loses most of the humour for which the book is so justly famous.

Wonderful book

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The narrator captured that quintessential English Ness and a by gone time! A great, easy listen 😊

A lovely book!

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A very light read with very gentle style of humour. Not everyone's cup of tea but I enjoyed it.

very gentle and funny.

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this has recently been dramatised by BBC and I loved the book as much as the TV series. a real insight into events between the wars.

loved it

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This book is hilarious and also very sad in places absolutely loved it, far better than the recent tv series.
Absolutely recommend. The narration was perfect I just wish it had been longer.

An absolute Joy

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I listened to this book after watching the brilliant BBC adaptation, and I enjoyed the book as much especially because of the fantastic narration that made each character as vivid as a full cast of actors. It's by turns moving, darkly satirical and funny and forms a wonderful dramatisation of Nancy Mitford's real life family who were quite as (if not more!) sensational as the fictonal Radlett's.

Funny, dark and brilliantly narrated

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